Published September 27, 2026
Gravity Falls episode guide: seasons, air dates, and why the order is confusing
Two seasons, 40 episodes, 2012 to 2016. How the broadcast order works, which episodes aired when, and why season two was released irregularly.
Gravity Falls has 40 episodes across two seasons of 20 each, and almost every question people have about "the order" comes from one fact: the show was not broadcast on a normal weekly schedule. Season one ran from June 15, 2012 to August 2, 2013. Season two ran from August 1, 2014 to February 15, 2016. Between those dates, episodes arrived in bursts, not weekly, and season two stretched across nineteen months.
The broadcast structure
- Season 1: 20 episodes, June 15, 2012 to August 2, 2013, on Disney Channel.
- Season 2: 20 episodes, August 1, 2014 to February 15, 2016, on Disney XD.
- Total: 40 episodes, running 20 to 24 minutes each.
- Premiere: "Tourist Trapped", June 15, 2012.
- Finale: "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls", February 15, 2016.
Why season two took so long
The reason is documented and specific. Disney XD stated that each episode took roughly six months to complete, and rather than stockpiling episodes to air weekly, the network chose to broadcast each episode as it finished and build an event around it. Wikipedia's summary of the 2015 Disney XD statement records exactly this reasoning, along with the network's observation that the show is serial in nature, so weekly pacing would have been a poor fit.
The result, as the same record shows, was an uneven pattern: the first nine season-two episodes aired from August to November 2014, then a gap to February and March 2015 for the next two, then July through November 2015 for eight more, and finally the finale in February 2016. Season one was similarly irregular, with the first twelve episodes airing weekly from mid-2012 and the remaining eight trickling out until August 2013.
What that means for watching order
Production order and broadcast order match here, which is the good news. There are no filler episodes written to hit a deadline and no shuffled season-two order, so watching in broadcast order is correct. If you have seen the show out of order, the two things to be careful about are the season-one finale and the season-two premiere, "A Tale of Two Stans," which is the direct sequel to the season-one climax and is the episode most often skipped or mis-sequenced by casual viewers.
Episode titles worth knowing as landmarks
These titles are confirmed in the series' reference record and are useful as orientation points because each one changes the story's shape rather than just resolving a week's monster.
- "Tourist Trapped" (season 1 premiere) introduces Dipper, Mabel, Stan, the Mystery Shack, and the journal.
- "Bottomless Pit!" and "Dreamscaperers" are the first season-one dips into the show's dream and dimension mechanics.
- "Gideon Rises" establishes the Magic Man's rivalry with the Mystery Shack, which pays off much later.
- "A Tale of Two Stans" is the season-two premiere and the episode that finally explains Stan's history and the twins' family.
- "Not What He Seems" is the season-two episode built around a recorded message, and it is widely cited as the show's most celebrated installment.
- "The Golf War" pits Dipper directly against Pacifica Northwest in the season-two premiere stretch.
- "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls" is the series finale, and its final seconds are the reason the Cipher Hunt exists.
Short-form and bonus material
Alongside the 40 main episodes there is a substantial amount of short-form material, and it matters if you care about the franchise rather than just the plot. "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained" ran 6 episodes from October 14 to 18, 2013. "Mabel's Guide to Life" ran 5 from February 3 to 7, 2014. "Fixin' It with Soos" ran 2 in April 2014. "Mabel's Scrapbook" ran 2 in June 2014. "Old Man McGucket's Conspiracy Corner" ran 10 from April to May 2015, "Grunkle Stan's Lost Mystery Shack Interviews" ran 13 in June and July 2015, and "'Pocalypse Preppin'" ran 8 from October to November 2015. There is also the standalone "Creature in the Closet" from April 17, 2012, and later shorts including "Soos' Stan Fiction" (February 17, 2017), "Gravity Falls x Line Rider" (September 11, 2020), and "How NOT To Draw: Grunkle Stan" (August 17, 2024).
The behind-the-scenes documentary One Crazy Summer and the companion short "The Hirsch Twins" both released on July 28, 2018 as box-set exclusives for the complete-series release. One Crazy Summer is where Hirsch explains the origin of the Cipher Hunt, which makes it the single most useful bonus feature for anyone researching the franchise's real-world side.
Where to watch them
All 40 episodes stream on Disney+. The complete-series DVD and Blu-ray box set, released July 24, 2018, is the only commercial home for the unaired 2010 pilot and the Cipher Hunt deleted scenes. Our where to watch page has the details, and our main reference page covers the premise and the publication line that came out of this run.